Residents in Russian-controlled Oleshky in Ukraine have been evacuated from the war-ravaged city during a six-day truce that’s expected to continue over the coming days.
The pause in fighting has also allowed humanitarian aid to enter the so-called “kill zone” in the southern Ukrainian region, replenishing essential supplies for the thousands who have opted to remain.
The six-day local ceasefire was reached after mediation efforts by US First Lady Melania Trump. It is the longest local pause in fighting since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
Russia said it launched the war — the deadliest in Europe since World War Two — in part to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO.
Moscow has repeatedly said it would not end fighting unless Ukraine cedes more land, limits the size of its forces and is permanently barred from forming alliances.
Ukraine, which says the invasion was an unprovoked war of conquest, has long dismissed Russia’s conditions as a demand for capitulation that would leave it defenceless against future Russian attacks.
Following three rounds of negotiations early this year — where little progress was reported beyond exchanges of prisoners of war — Russia has said it is ready to resume US-mediated talks with Ukraine after President Vladimir Putin hosted US envoy Steve Witkoff for talks in Saint Petersburg.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he hopes the negotiations, which would be the first since February, would take place early in November.
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